NEWS for Mercury 13.05
----------------------
Changes to the Mercury standard library:
* We have swapped the argument order of the predicates set.singleton_set/2,
set_bbbtree.singleton_set/2, set_ordlist.singleton_set/2 and
set_unordlist.singleton_set/2 so that it conforms with the order in the
other set modules.
* All the modules that operate on sets now have two new predicates.
One is insert_new: if the item is not already in the set, it inserts
the item, otherwise it fails. The other is all_true: it succeeds if
and only if all elements in the set pass a test.
* The map and varset modules each have a new predicate that deletes
a sorted list of items from a map or varset, and can do so faster than
usual by exploiting the order.
* The map, bimap and tree234 modules each have a new predicate that does
a search, and if the search is unsuccessful, does an insertion during
the *same* traversal.
* The argument order of the following predicates has been changed so as to
make them more conducive to the use of state variable notation:
pqueue.insert/4, pqueue.remove/4, stack.push/3, stack.push_list/3,
stack.pop/3 and stack.det_pop/3.
* We have added versions of the operations in the math module that omit the
domain checks.
* We have added new predicates to the parsing_utils module:
input_string/3, get_skip_whitespace_pred/2 and next_char_no_progress/4.
* The lexer module returns base 10 integer literals in the string
representation, if the integer is too large for an `int'.
* We have add the following new predicates to the list module:
list.all_true_corresponding/3, list.all_false_corresponding/3 and
list.same_length3/3.
* We have added the type maybe.maybe_error/2 which is polymorphic in the
error type.
* We have added predicates to the calendar module for folding over the days
in a given range of dates: foldl_days/5, foldl2_days/7 and foldl3_days/9.
* We have added two functions to both the hash_table and version_hash_table
modules: copy/1 and from_assoc_list/4.
Changes to the Mercury compiler:
* Generation of 64-bit code on Windows using the MinGW64 port of GCC
is now supported, i.e. the x86_64-w64-mingw32 architecture is now
supported.
* We have improved compilation times for very large programs. In
particular, compilation times for predicates containing the following
have been improved:
- large ground terms
- large disjunctions
- large numbers of higher order constructs and/or code that uses
large hierarchies of type classes
* We have implemented a type representation optimisation, where a functor
with exactly one argument can be represented by a tagged pointer to the
argument value, which itself does not require the tag bits.
* In C grades, consecutive enumeration arguments in discriminated
union types can now be packed into a single word.
* Double-precision `float' constructor arguments are now stored in
unboxed form in high-level C grades.
* Double-precision `float' constructor arguments are now stored in
unboxed form on 32-bit architectures in the low-level C grades.
This was previously so for 64-bit architectures.
* Double-precision float arguments can now be passed via dedicated Mercury
abstract machine registers to avoid boxing, in low-level C grades on
32-bit architectures. Float variables can occupy two words on the
Mercury stack to avoid boxing.
* The option `--warn-non-tail-recursion' no longer requires
`--high-level-code'.
* A new option, `--sign-assembly', provides supports for signing
assemblies generated by the C# backend with a strong name.
* A new option, `--cstack-reserve-size', allows the size of the C
stack for executables to be changed on Microsoft Windows systems.
Changes to the Mercury debugger:
* We have added new capabilities to the "level", "retry" and "finish" mdb
commands. If these commands are given the argument "clentry", they will
operate on the ancestor of the current call that represents entry to the
clique of mutually recursive procedures that the current call belongs to.
If they are given the argument "clparent", they will operate on the parent
of that call.
* The mdb command "stack" can now find and mark cliques of mutually recursive
calls on the stack, and can (and by default, will) impose a limit on the
number of lines it prints for each clique.
Changes to the extras distribution:
* We have added a binding to the GLFW library.
For news about earlier versions, see the HISTORY file in the Mercury source
distribution.